Lottery officials laying off Mr. Monopoly the day after Christmas

ATLANTA —The Monopoly lottery game won’t be “passing Go” next week after it failed to meet expectations, much less monopolize lottery players’ interest.

Georgia Lottery Corp. officials announced sales of the Monopoly Millionaires’ Club game, which debuted in 23 states, including Georgia, on Oct. 19, just hasn’t generated the interest — and revenue — that lottery officials had expected. While they’re leaving the possibility of a rebooted game based on the popular Hasbro board game, Mr. Monopoly is being laid off the day after Christmas.

“Sales for the game have not met the lottery industry’s projections and have continued to decline nationally since its introduction,” Georgia Lottery Corp. President and CEO Debbie D. Alford said. “Unfortunately, players have not embraced the game.

“We will continue to discuss the possible future of this game and certainly believe in the concept of spreading the winnings around to players. Our options to change the game while it is being sold are limited in scope and challenging to implement.”

Georgia officials said the slow sales resulted in the Texas Lottery Commission ending sales in its state Dec. 12. On Monday, the remaining 22 states decided to end the game in its current format later this month before settling Wednesday on the Dec. 26 ending.

Rebecca Paul Hargrove, President and CEO of the Tennessee Education Lottery Corp. and co-chair of the Monopoly Millionaires’ Club Steering Committee, said that lotteries can learn from the project.

“We look to provide our players with new and innovative forms of entertainment so as to maximize our proceeds for the good causes we fund. Approached from the right perspective, you can learn something from each product out there,” Hargrove said. “That’s what comes with innovation: Every project gives you the chance to experience and grow. As with any other consumer good, our goal is always to provide a game that players want.”

Tickets in the game will be sold until the sales cutoff for the final weekly drawing at 11:15 p.m. Dec. 26.

Lotteries also plan to continue to research the concepts behind the current game.

Players can visit www.playmmc.com or their lottery’s website for further details about the game.